One question I’ve been asked many times is how I stay focused all day when I’m painting. This is a big hurdle for some people because they have a limited amount of time to paint, and they want to make the most of it. It’s frustrating when you’ve blocked out a couple of hours to paint but find yourself getting antsy and losing your focus after thirty minutes. I, too, sometimes have trouble focusing because of distractions around me. So how do I manage it? Well, I have several rituals to help get me into the painting headspace.
Painting at home versus painting at the office is different for me. When you are painting at home the distractions are housework, pets, roommates, significant others, video games, school work, and so on. I could always find a million things to do around the house and that sometimes made it difficult to sit down and paint all day long.
When painting at home I have to make sure my honey-do list is complete before I start painting. That means things like housework, errands that need to be run, and cooking or baking all have to be completed before I can sit down and focus on painting.
Another aspect of painting at home is having other people around. Roommates or significant others can be very distracting. I had one roommate who loved to talk, and since my painting desk was in a common area, she would pull up a stool and start talking to me while I was trying to work. This was really distracting, and it was also disruptive to my progress.
When I’m at home, I listen to the TV or movies I’ve seen a million times as background noise. I am the type of person that needs noise to drown everything out. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is my painting soundtrack at home. I love it, and I know it so well I can paint to it very easily. This helps me separate being at the office and being at home but still allows me to focus on what I’m doing.
Painting at the office is a lot easier. When I am at the office my job is to paint miniatures. I also don’t have the distractions of home around—video game consoles, pets, laundry that needs to be done. Not having these distractions removes a lot of pressure, and I’m actually able to relax more than when I try to paint at home.
At the office, I can hear the development department talking about game design, or marketing discussing the latest Privateer Press video, or the sculptors discussing miniatures in progress. There is a whirlwind of creativity and activity going on around me! That can make it tough to concentrate because so much cool stuff is happening!
All of us are encouraged to listen to music or audio books at work. For me, this is super important! I have to have something to initially grab my attention and help me focus on painting. When I am at work I listen to audio books and podcasts every day! I can’t work without it. I don’t listen to audio books or podcasts at home. I leave them at the office so I have something to listen to every day I’m at work. I have trained myself so that when I hit play I start painting. I make sure to take my breaks throughout the day as well. I have to get up every couple of hours just to stretch my legs, stretch out my hands, or get a drink of water—then it’s right back to work.
I hope some of these tips will help you guys, as well as let you know it’s okay to have distractions. You just have to deal with them. It happens to all of us, even those of us who paint eight hours a day.
Just remember to keep your paint wet, your brushes pointed, your models clean, and have fun!
Meg